Jersey Unreported Judgments

Superior Number Sentencing - Sexual touching of a young child - indecent photographs.

[2019]JRC151

Royal Court

(Samedi)

30 July 2019

Before     :

T. J. Le Cocq, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Blampied, Ramsden, Thomas, Christensen, Austin-Vautier.

The Attorney General

-v-

E

Sentencing by the Superior Number of the Royal Court, to which the accused was remanded by the Inferior Number on 25^th March, 2019, following guilty pleas to the following charges:

1 count of:	Sexual touching of a young child, contrary to Article 9(3) of the Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law, 2018 (Count 1).
2 counts of:	Possession of indecent photographs of children, contrary to Article 2(1)(b) of the Protection of Children (Jersey) Law, 1994. (Count 2 and Count 3).

Age:  41. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

On 13^th December, 2018, the States of Jersey Police ("the Police") were contacted by a UK police force in connection with online communications that had been exchanged between undercover officers and the defendant.  The officers used a fake online profile under the name of "Chris", who purported to be a 44 year old male from Surrey with an 8 year old daughter.  During the exchange they discussed child sex offences and the defendant suggested that he had committed a contact sexual offence against a 4 year old girl in Jersey ("Child X").

 

The defendant had close ties with the family of Child X and Child X herself regarding him as her uncle.  In relation to the offence in question, the defendant provided childcare for Child X, and had been left alone with her for approximately one hour.  Following this the defendant sent messages to "Chris" stating that Child X had been sat on his lap and he had had an erection.  He said he had also tickled her and the touching had taken place over clothing.

 

Due to concerns that the defendant had committed a contact sex offence, the law enforcement operatives contacted the States of Jersey Police on 13^th December, 2018, and he was subsequently arrested.  The defendant's Samsung mobile telephone and surface pro laptop were seized.

 

The defendant's mobile telephone was forensically examined and found to contain eight indecent images, including three images graded at level three on the Copine Scale and one image graded at level four. 

 

The defendant's laptop was also forensically examined and found to contain two indecent images graded at level four on the Copine Scale. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, good character.

Previous Convictions:

No relevant previous convictions.

Conclusions:

Count 1:	2 years' imprisonment.
Count 2:	2 years' imprisonment, consecutive to Count 1.
Count 3:	2 years' imprisonment, concurrent to Count 2.

Total:  4 years' imprisonment.

Order sought under Article 5(1) of Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law, 2010 that a period of 10 years elapse before the defendant is permitted to apply to no longer be subject to the notification requirements to commence from date of sentence. 

Restrictive orders sought to commence from date of sentence for a period of 10 years under Article 10(4) of the Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law, 2010 with the following conditions:-

1.      That the Defendant be prohibited from:

a)      Living in the same household as any child under the age of 16 unless with the express approval of the Offender Management Unit of the States of Jersey Police;

b)      Contacting or attempting to contact, via any form of social media, internet or telecommunications system, any child he knows or believes to be under 16, unless there is a parent, guardian or responsible adult present who is over the age of 21, who is aware of the accused's convictions, and who does not have a conviction which would render him/her liable to notification under the Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law 2010;

c)      Being alone with any child under the age of 16 years, aside from such contact which is inadvertent or unavoidable.  They will be considered to be alone if there is not a parent, guardian or responsible adult present who is over the age of 21, who is aware of the accused's convictions, and who does not have a conviction which would render him/her liable to notification under the Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law 2010.

2.      That in circumstances where the Defendant finds himself alone with a child under the age of 16, that he has a positive duty to remove himself from that situation as soon as reasonably possible;

3.      That the Defendant be prohibited from:

a)      possessing any device capable of accessing the internet unless he has registered the device with the Offender Management Unit of the States of Jersey Police;

b)      accessing the internet on any device unless the history of that access is recorded, and he takes no steps to disguise, delete or otherwise conceal that history.

4.      That the Defendant provide advanced notification details of any proposed changes of address or employment that will have to be approved by the Offender Management Unit of the States of Jersey Police;

5.      That the Defendant cannot refuse access to police officers who are monitoring or checking on his restraining orders, and he must allow officers entry to any premises he occupies or is in control of for the purposes of searching for relevant devices;

6.      That the Defendant may not knowingly contact or associate with anyone he knows to have been convicted of any offence which would render them liable to the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law 2010 (not to come into force until the Defendant is released from custody).

Restraining Order sought under Article 5 of the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment) (Jersey) Law 2008 which prevented the defendant contacting Child X and her parents for a period of 10 years to commence from date of sentence.

Forfeiture and destruction of all of the electronic devices containing indecent material, specifically the Samsung mobile phone, Surface Pro laptop and Vodafone mobile phone sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:	2 years' imprisonment.
Count 2:	1 year and 10 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Count 1.
Count 3:	1 year and 10 months' imprisonment, concurrent to Count 2.

Total:  3 years and 10 months' imprisonment.

The Court ordered that the defendant be subject to the notification requirements for a period of 10 years' and granted restrictive orders according to the Crown's conclusions.

The Court amended the length of the restraining order so that it ran for an indeterminate period. 

Forfeiture and destruction of all of the electronic devices containing indecent material, specifically the Samsung mobile phone, Surface Pro laptop and Vodafone mobile phone ordered. 

M. R. Maletroit Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate L. Sette for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE deputy Bailiff:

1.        You are to be sentenced with regard to one count of sexual touching of a child and two counts of possession of indecent images of children.  The Crown Advocate has set out the details in full but in essence you had very close ties with the child's family.  You were treated by all of that family with trust and the little girl in question trusted you completely.  She was 4 years old. 

2.        It is clear that you have a strong sexual interest in little children and we have, of course, heard in some detail of your internet activities.  During one such exchange on the internet you revealed to a police officer posing as a person with similar interests that you had committed a contact offence with the little girl.  You described her as sitting on your lap and you tickling her, bouncing around, which provided you with sexual gratification.  On your arrest indecent images were found on your phone and laptop including a very small number of images at Level 4 on the Copine Scale, and with ten images in total. 

3.        We accept that the sexual touching was towards the lower end of seriousness in that both you and the little girl were clothed, that she was not aware that the touching was sexual in nature and she has not as a result been traumatised or sexualised.  However, this to our mind was a gross breach of trust on a number of levels and your victim was a very young girl and there was a significant element of planning in as much as whilst you were exhibiting these interests in children arranged to be alone in her company.

4.        We have had regard to the cases put to us by the Crown and we accept that there is a move in the Courts for more severe sentencing relating to sexual cases involving children.  We also note the contents of the reports that have been prepared.  It is of concern to us that you have minimised your behaviour, that you have at various times denied sexual interest in children, that you told the psychiatrist that you made up the story with regard to Count 1 to which you have pleaded guilty, and these are, as I have said, concerning to us as to whether you have in reality admitted that you have the problems that you do and your guilt in this regard.

5.        That being said you have the benefit of a guilty plea which is of particular value with regard to Count 1, as had you not pleaded guilty the family would have been exposed to a traumatic trial.  You are also of good character, although as the Crown has said in its conclusions there is limited weight that can be placed on character in cases such as this and even an exemplary character would not normally move the Court from applying the appropriate sentence.  Nonetheless we take it into account.  We acknowledge from the reports the difficulties you have had in your background and upbringing and accept that you have suffered trauma during the course of your military career.

6.        We deal firstly with aspects under the Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law 2010.  We are entirely satisfied that a period of 10 years is appropriate before you may apply to be freed of the reporting requirements under that law.

7.        We also feel that we should make the restrictive orders sought by the Crown and again they should apply for a period of 10 years.  There is in our mind a threat of serious sexual harm and we agree with the statement of the Court in AG v Lochhead [2014] JRC 093 to the effect of:

"As to the Restraining Orders that have been asked for by the Crown, we are going to make the first two orders which relate to your computer because the Court takes the view that anyone who views indecent images does pose a threat of serious sexual harm to those unfortunate children who are the subject of the making of those images"

Accordingly we make an order in the terms sought.

8.        We will come on to mention the restraining orders in just a moment but it is correct I think that we move on now to deal with the sentence.

9.        We are entirely satisfied that the Crown's conclusions with regard to Count 1 are correct for the reasons that we have said when we characterised this offending, specifically the egregious breach of trust, the element of planning and the very young age of the girl involved, and you are sentenced to a period of 2 years imprisonment.

10.      With regard to Count 2 and Count 3 we are concerned that it is not necessarily appropriate to begin from a starting point of 3 years, and to our mind we should reduce to a limited extent the conclusions of the Crown in that regard.  You are accordingly sentenced with regard to Count 2 and Count 3 each to 1 year and 10 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Count 1 but concurrent with each other, making a total of 3 years and 10 month's imprisonment.

11.      We order the forfeiture and destruction of the computer and telephone equipment but we note that you wish to retain certain inoffensive images relating to family history and possessions and you should make arrangements through you counsel for those images, if it is possible to retrieve them, prior to this part of our order being carried out.

12.      That leaves only the question of the restraining orders.  The reason that we wish to raise this is that we are minded to make a restraining order, but we note that the Crown has asked for a restraining order of a period of 10 years and in the victim impact statements the requested period is indefinitely.  It is open to the Court to make an indeterminate order but rather than do so we would wish to hear from the Crown as to what the thinking was in moving for a 10 year period and then from the Defence so that we can form our view accordingly. 

13.      We make the restraining orders in terms sought by the Crown but we make it for an indeterminate period, we note the fact that it is open to the parties or indeed the Crown to make an application for that to be varied should circumstance justify it but in our view to give the child's family the measure of security and freedom from worry that they are entitled to we make it for an indeterminate period. 

Authorities

Sex Offenders (Jersey) Law 2010. 

AG v Lochhead [2014] JRC 093. 

K v AG and AG v F [2016] JCA 219

AG v Brewster 2001/3

AG v Holland [2008] JRC 061

AG v Godson and Crowley [2013] JRC 091

AG v T [2017] JRC 169

AG v S [2017] JRC 194A

AG v Dobrin and ors [2019] JRC 097

R v Smith and Ors [2012] 1 Cr App R (S) 82